Mountain
by HufflepuffsUnite
Summary: "You can't expect me to contemplate eternity when I can barely handle living for another day." Adalina Silentas expected a few things from the Volturi Ball; endless small-talk, a few too many champagne flutes, and barely concealed animosity between covens. One thing she did not expect was to meet Aro himself, much less to make him stumble over his own words.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my latest story, 'Mountain'. I've been debating on whether or not to publish this first chapter until I have a few more saved up, but I couldn't help myself! Please enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer - I do not own any recognisable or published material. I only own the original characters and storyline in this story.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

 _Normality is a paved road; it's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow._

 _\- Vincent van Gogh_

Her parents were one of those couples; you know, the ones that epic love stories are based on. They were completely and utterly smitten with each other. It was a privilege to have been raised by parents who had such a strong relationship when there are so many people who are raised in a loveless household. Sometimes, though, it felt like a curse to be around them every day and remain alone while they took every opportunity to confess their undying love for each other.

Marina and Sebastian Silentas had been married for many years before they decided to adopt a baby. Several months and a mountain of adoption papers later, baby Adalina Silentas was welcomed into the family. When she was younger, Adalina had noticed that while she changed and grew, the rest of her family did not. She can still faintly remember asking her parents about it, and the ensuing argument between them as they debated over whether to tell her the truth. Eventually, her father convinced her mother and they told Adalina the reason behind their unchanging appearance – they were vampires. Real, out of the coffin, vampires. After the initial shock, she had spent the following weeks grilling her parents, constantly asking questions and trying to learn everything there was to know about vampires. It was all very fascinating and new to Adalina but, over the years, that juvenile interest had decayed into a bitter fixation. How could she not feel bitter when she had spent her entire life surrounded by such beautiful people and yet she remained painstakingly average in comparison?

While she had grown up with the knowledge that her family were vampires, she didn't know much about the rest of their world until a few years ago. Her parents had waited until she was eighteen to tell her more about their world because they didn't want to overwhelm her at a young age which, she accepted, was completely reasonable. From what they had told her, Adalina knew that there were three vampires that governed over the rest of the species and they formed a coven called the Volturi. When she had asked how three people managed to control an entire species, her parents had been rather vague and mysterious in their answer – _'You'll understand soon enough, Adalina'._ They had then moved on to tell her that each country had a leading coven that dealt with small crimes and disputes that happened in their area, and if any major crimes occurred, they handed the perpetrators over to the rulers. Adalina's family were the leading coven for the United States of America but they split some of the duties with another coven that stayed in the north.

Adalina had never met the rulers or anyone in their coven, but that was about to change in a few days. The ruling coven was holding one of their decade balls this week and this was the first one that she was old enough to attend. She had been about twelve years old when the last one had taken place and her entire family had respectfully declined to attend while she was so young. She had been feeling quite anxious in the lead up to the ball; this was going to be the first time Adalina was surrounded by such a large group of vampires and there was no doubt that she was going to stick out like a sore thumb. Regardless, she was going to try her best to not look completely miserable while she was there because she knew it made her parents upset to see her like that. So, like always, she would bottle it all up to make sure that no one else suffered alongside her.

While she carefully packed her clothes away into a suitcase, she went over everything she knew about the ruling coven. The three rulers were originally from Greece and they were each just under 2,500 years old – a staggering age that had make Adalina choke when she heard it. They were brothers in venom, having been turned by the same maker, and two of them were gifted. Some vampires possessed an extra gift that was different from the ones that already came with the bite. Aro was the eldest of the three brothers and one of the two that possessed a gift. Marcus, the other ruler who was gifted, came next and that left Caius who was both the youngest and the one with no gift. While Adalina knew that Aro and Marcus were both gifted, she hadn't been able to find out what gifts they had. However, she did know that they would complement their personalities perfectly – for better or for worse, that's just the way that gifts worked.

With a relieved sigh, she finally finished packing her suitcase and turned around to carry it downstairs, only to find someone standing in her doorway. A startled gasp made its way past her lips and her heart started hammering before she recognised the grinning face of the intruder.

"Mikhail!" Adalina scolded once her heart had calmed down. "You could have given me a heart-attack!"

The grinning man sauntered further into her room before speaking. "Since when do you call me Mikhail instead of Uncle Mikey, huh?"

Adalina rolled her eyes as the overgrown man-child pulled her in for a hug. Despite herself, she let a fond smile tug her lips for a moment before pulling back to continue scolding him.

"Well, _Uncle Mikey_ , it may have escaped your notice but I'm not a little girl anymore," she started. "This is the 21st Century, people tend to knock on doors before entering – don't think that I won't be telling Emily about this."

Emily was Mikhail's wife and she was a stickler for manners. How she managed to put up with Mikhail was beyond Adalina's understanding. He was the definition of rude, and always up to something mischievous, especially when Adalina was around.

"Aw, come on, Lina-bean," he whined. "I've only been home for ten minutes and you already want to get me into trouble?"

Mikhail and Emily had been travelling through Russia for the past several months and had returned home just in time to travel to the decade ball with the rest of the family. They both travelled a lot, meeting with other leading covens to discuss current affairs and other such things, so it was rare for them to be home for more than a month before jetting off again. Adalina had always loved it when they returned from travelling when she was younger because they brought back little gifts for her. She now had quite the collection of trinkets from every corner of the world.

"Anyway, your mom wants you to bring your suitcase downstairs now," Mikhail informed her. "We're leaving soon."

"Okay, I'll be down soon," Adalina smiled at her uncle. "I missed you, Uncle Mikey."

The gentle giant smiled softly at his niece. "I missed you too, Lina-bean."

The car ride to the airport was a quiet affair, which Adalina was thankful for; sometimes she just needed a few moments of quiet to gather her thoughts. As such, Cristian was the perfect travel companion and one of Adalina's closest friends. Cristian had stumbled across her family's coven about ten or so years ago, and they had quickly discovered that he was mute. Adalina had been approaching the brink of puberty at the time and she quickly latched on to Cristian's gentle soul from the moment that she met him. In turn, Cristian doted upon her immensely and took any opportunity to be around her. Over time, they had formed a deep bond with one another; Adalina could tell him all her deepest secrets with no fear of rejection and Cristian felt completely accepted, muteness and all, by Adalina. They had even created their own secret language, loosely based on sign language, that they used to communicate with each other.

" _Do you know what you are wearing to the ball yet?"_ Adalina asked Cristian as they made their way through the airport. The rest of the family had already arrived and checked in all of the luggage, so they didn't have to wait in too many queues.

" _I'm a man, Adalina, we all wear the same suit in different colour variations,"_ he quipped with a small grin. Something that not many people knew about Cristian is that he had quite the penchant for dry humour and one-liners when the mood strikes him. As a result of their closeness, Adalina had picked up her own dry sense of humour, but it only came out around Cristian.

" _Not my dad, he has a grotesque collection of suits ranging from tuxedos to Victorian era three-pieces,"_ Adalina snorted. _"Pocket watches included."_

Cristian chortled silently beside her as they climbed onto the jet; her father's suit collection was a common topic of discussion between the two, and something that he could never know about lest they face one of his famed tantrums.

"What are you two laughing about?" Her father, the man in question, asked eagerly. Adalina got the impression that he sometimes felt left out when she and Cristian had their secret conversations.

"We were just discussing some of the recent tabloids, dad," she answered with a small smile. "They can be quite ridiculous at times."

Her father then proceeded to spend the next couple of hours discussing the younger generation's obsession with celebrities and social media as the jet began its journey to Italy. Needless to say, both Cristian and Adalina were relieved when her mother finally distracted him and gave them both a bit of peace. That's something else that made the pair extremely close, while they enjoyed the occasional conversation or debate, Adalina and Cristian were both equally as happy to just sit next to each other in silence. There was something comforting about just existing with another person.

The rest of the journey passed quickly and Adalina spent most of it reading a book or taking the occasional nap. That being said, it was a relief to walk on solid ground again and stretch out her legs in the fresh air. This was her first time being in Italy and, even from the meagre view the airport offered, it looked like a beautiful country. The skies were clear with no signs of the grey clouds and pollution that engulfed American cities. It was a rare occurrence to look up and see the sky in all of its glory back home where there was a constant buzz of orange light from the city. And there were trees, beautiful trees that were scattered across the land with no sense of order or formation; she was so used to seeing trees that were planted in perfect rows but this way was definitely more beautiful. Overall, everything seemed so natural and organic here in Italy, she couldn't wait to explore.

The airport that they had landed at was based in a small town a few miles away from Volterra, where the Volturi resided. There were three cars waiting on the tarmac for her family so that they wouldn't have to parade themselves through the airport – especially in the beaming sunshine that enveloped Italy. Artfully draped scarfs and parasols provided enough coverage for the vampires to rush into the cars undetected while Adalina took her time walking down the jet's staircase, admiring the beautiful landscape and scenery. By the time she was finally seated in the car with Cristian, the rest of the family had already left and so they quickly drove after them.

Her father had rented a large villa for everyone to stay in for the duration of the trip as they were much too conspicuous for a populated hotel. The Volturi had offered them accommodation in their residence but Adalina's parents were quick to decline due to the simple fact that a human residing in a building full of unknown vampires was not the brightest idea.

The villa was gorgeous with gently faded white walls, a rich terracotta roof and mahogany accents. It had a lot of character, which is what her mother and father preferred as they felt it made a house feel like a home rather than a showroom. That pretty much summed up her family; they preferred to fully submerse themselves in life, even through the nitty and gritty, rather than hide away in fancy houses with only their money to keep them company. Adalina knew of covens that focused their entire lives on maintaining a barrier between themselves and the rest of the world, and she thought it was a rather sad way to live, especially when you have so much time to do so. Of course, that's not to say that her family went around flaunting their immortality for the whole world to see. They were big believers in maintaining the secret; they just don't believe that you have to live in a bubble to do so.

With a relieved sigh, Adalina made her way into the room next to Cristian's. Travelling always took it out of her and, no matter how much sleep she got on the plane, she was always exhausted by the time they got to their accommodation. Gently placing her suitcase beside the bed, she slipped off her shoes and crawled under the sheets for a much needed nap.

* * *

Despite only having slept for a few hours, Adalina felt well-rested by the time she woke up. She stretched out her arms and legs while walking over to the window and looking outside to see that the sun had just begun to lower in the sky. Turning away from the window, she turned around to survey her room. She hadn't bothered to look around much before her nap, but it was a lovely room: the decorations were simple and understated, with woven furniture and wooden flooring. She was not the type of person who could sleep in a room that was too busy or messy, she preferred a more minimalist approach when it came to decoration.

Quickly glancing at the watch on her wrist, she noticed that there were only a few hours until the Volturi Ball. As if summoned, her mother chapped on the door before peeking her head in. Upon seeing that Adalina was up and awake, she walked into the room.

"Time to get ready," her mother grinned.

Allowing her a small smile, Adalina walked into the bathroom to shower quickly while her mother started her preparations in the room. From previous experience, she knew that her mother would work on her hair while she worked on her makeup. While Adalina enjoyed getting pretty and dressed up on occasions, she couldn't help but feel that, no matter how long or hard she worked on her appearance, she would never compare to even the least beautiful vampire in the world. But, with a sigh, she fixed a smile on her face before wrapping her wet hair in a towel and walking out of the bathroom. There was no sense in making everyone miserable alongside her.

After two hours, she was finally finished getting ready. Her hair had been expertly styled into glossy waves and curls by her mother, while she had given herself a glowy complexion with champagne hued glitter dabbed carefully across her eyelid and a slick of nude lipstick to accentuate her lips' natural colour. The dress was the real star of the show though, Adalina had spotted it in one of her mother's fashion catalogues a couple of months ago and had immediately known that it was exactly what she wanted for the ball; it was gold, with a strapless bodice that was fitted until it gently flared out from her knees to the floor. The bodice and edges of the skirt were adorned with a metallic, gold applique. Her accessories were simple so as not to draw attention from the dress; a pair of nude stiletto heels and a similarly coloured clutch with no jewellery except from a simple pair of gold stud earrings.

Adalina felt beautiful, looking over her form appraisingly in the mirror, until her mother re-entered the room in her own dress. Looking at her mother, her shoulders slumped slightly – she looked positively frumpy compared to the beautiful vampiress. Even from just looking at her, Adalina knew that she was going to be the proverbial ugly duckling in the room full of gorgeous vampires.

"Look at you! You look beautiful, carino," her mother gushed.

"Not half as much as you, mom," Adalina murmured while kissing her mother on the cheek carefully. "You look lovely."

They both walked downstairs to meet with the rest of the family before leaving. Upon entering the living room, Adalina was quick to walk to Cristian's side. He quickly placed an arm around her waist, sensing her slight distress immediately. She smiled up at him gratefully before looking over at the rest of the family.

They all looked amazing, not that she expected any less – her family loved to dress up at any opportunity, Adalina included. Emily was wearing a stunning red dress with Mikhail wearing a matching tie tucked into his black suit, and her mother was wearing a figure-hugging black dress which her father matched with an all-black tuxedo. Cristian had also matched his tie to her golden dress, they always matched their event outfits as they were the only single ones, and he was wearing a pearl grey suit. All in all, they pulled together quite the ensemble which was sure to turn more than a few heads their way at the ball.

They all exchanged compliments and had a few jokes before separating into the different cars to head out. Adalina stared out of the window nervously as the car started, hopefully she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself tonight.

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 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next instalment. I'm already working on the next one, so it should hopefully be up soon! Feel free to leave a review, it would mean the world to me!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome to Chapter Two! I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer - I do not own, or presume to own, any recognisable or published material. I only own the original characters and storyline.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWO**

" _As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen."_

 _\- Winnie the Pooh_

A soft tap on her shoulder drew Adalina from her thoughts as she looked over at Cristian. She had been staring at her tightly clasped hands with a seemingly cool exterior, while the inside her head was a jumbled mess of all the different paths tonight could take.

" _Are you okay? We've been sitting here for almost ten minutes,"_ her confidant asked carefully. He knew how she could get at things like these and didn't want to make her feel more pressure than she already was.

Looking up, Adalina noted that the car had actually come to a stop while she was lost in her head, and they were now parked in a long row of shining, expensive cars. She looked into her parents' car, which they had parked next to, and noticed that it was empty; they must have already ventured inside.

" _I'm just nervous, that's all,"_ she tried to smile convincingly. _"I'll be fine once we get inside."_

Despite not looking convinced, Cristian got out of the car and sped around to open Adalina's door, offering her a hand to get out of the car. Threading her arm through one of his, she held on tightly as they made their way towards the castle.

Even in the darkening night sky, the Volturi Castle was a sight to behold; the light stone walls towered high above them, curving into a delicate archway that housed the public entrance, and dark green spirals of ivy could be seen wrapped around the pillars. Walking into the courtyard, she could see the entirety of the castle as it lay nestled seamlessly into the hillside it occupied, almost as if it had grown there alongside the plush vegetation. The castle was certainly a befitting home for royalty, with grand spiral towers and curved terraces spread throughout. It all combined to create a stunning, yet seemingly impenetrable fortress.

Walking inside, Adalina was surprised to find that it was even more beautiful than the exterior. Shining marble floors paved their way towards the reception area, revealing ornate golden fixtures that lined the walls. The reception desk itself was a work of art; composed of the same marble as the floor, it was adorned with a complex, twisting pattern accentuated with sparkling gold filigree.

"Benvenuto! Are you here for the ball?" the smiling receptionist greeted warmly. Adalina noted the way her eyes didn't seem to skip over Cristian twice, as other humans usually did. Was she in on the secret?

"Ciao, here are our invitations for the ball," Adalina smiled in return while handing over her and Cristian's golden envelopes.

After that, they continued walking deeper into the castle as instructed by the kind receptionist. As they walked further, she began to hear sounds from the ball drifting down the corridor, causing her palms to sweat slightly – it sounded like there was a lot of people in there. Upon reaching the end of the corridor, they were met with a set of huge wooden doors and two vampires stationed outside of them. They simply nodded their heads before opening the door for Adalina and Cristian. Taking a deep breath, she looked into her best friend's eyes for reassurance before walking into the ballroom.

While she did not possess the grace of a vampire, Adalina walked easily in her heels and timed her breath to their sharp 'click, click, click'. She had plenty of practice in walking with heels as she often wore them during her court appearances, so that was one thing that she didn't need to worry about. As the doors clicked shut behind them, she took the time to process the scene in front of her.

Just as she had suspected, there were a lot of people gathered in the room and each of them looked more beautiful than the last. As far as she could tell, Adalina was the only human in the room that was not a server. With her heart racing wildly in her chest, she looked around the room for any familiar faces. Thankfully, there were a few people that she recognised, although they mostly belonged to the same coven – the Cullen's. Due to their similar roles in the vampire world, her father and Carlisle were both close friends and the two covens often ran into each other in their travels.

Against the back wall, a string quartet performed on a golden platform. It was the typical boring, classical music that you would expect of a ball, but it helped her to relax, nonetheless.

Adalina plastered a smile on her face before grabbing a champagne flute off of a passing server. Despite vampires not actually being able to consume the alcohol, there was plenty of it to go around. There were also wine glasses filled with blood being served, but that didn't stop a large number of the guests from nursing a flute of champagne. While she would like to believe it was for appearance's sake in front of the servers, she knew that it was really down to a brash sense of splendour and opulence.

From his place beside her, Cristian was surveying the room with an air of distaste – he hated these events even more than she did. Despite their advanced memory, and the vast amount of time they had on their hands, a lot of vampires did not know sign language. The vampire population was mostly made up of people from older time periods who were, more often than not, completely resistant to learning anything new. Unfortunately, this made it very difficult for Cristian to communicate with people outside of their coven. It, understandably, frustrated him to no end.

" _We'll get through it,"_ she signed around the champagne flute in her hands. He tossed her a grateful smile before they made their way into the crowd to start mingling.

Adalina's first port of call was to check in with her parents, who were wrapped up in polite small talk with the leading coven of Germany. It was a brief conversation, mostly just assuring them that she and Cristian had made it there with no troubles.

After that, she made her way over to where most of the Cullen's were gathered. They often stuck together at these events, preferring to stay away from the prying eyes that followed them due to their choice of diet.

"Carlisle, Esme! It's lovely to see you again," Adalina smiled warmly at the couple.

The golden-haired patriarch smiled politely while shaking her hand. "Always a pleasure, Adalina. How are your parents doing?"

"Busy, as always! I'm sure they'll make their way over soon to see you," she promised before looking over the rest of the coven.

Emmett and Rosalie were dressed impeccably, as always, with the statuesque beauty giving Adalina a polite nod in greeting, and Emmett grinning widely. Alice and Jasper were across the room, speaking to some vampires she had never seen before. Edward looked as boyishly handsome as ever, and he was accompanied by a woman that she had never met.

"Nice to see you, Adalina," Edward spoke up, following her gaze to his companion. "This is my wife, Isabella Cullen."

"Just Bella is fine," the new Cullen spoke quietly, looking as though she would blush if she could. She was certainly pretty, with a quiet charm that radiated around her.

"I'm Adalina Silentas," she introduced with a warm smile. "It's lovely to meet you, Bella. Congratulations as well, it is nice to finally see Edward with some company."

Bella's golden eyes flicked over her form with obvious curiosity. "Silentas? Your family are one of the other leading covens, aren't they?"

"Indeed, so I am sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in the future," Adalina said before politely excusing herself from the conversation. There were far too many people that she had to speak to before the night was over.

It only took an hour for Adalina to become tired of the small talk and the stares. She understood that it was strange for a human to be in the midst of so many vampires, but did that really mean that they all had to stare at her like a walking blood-bag. Honestly, some of them even had the audacity to look surprised when she opened her mouth to speak with a semblance of intelligence, as if being a human automatically made her stupid.

Needless to say, she was completely fed up with the entire affair, and had resolved to spend the rest of the evening sipping champagne from a quiet corner of the room.

* * *

Aro was greeting all of the arrivals when he noticed the quiet presence of a human in the corner of the room. He focused on the young woman standing apart from the rest of the vampires and, as his eyes drank her in, he began to feel a gentle tugging in his chest that was drawing him towards her. Slowly, he walked past the gathered vampires and made his way over to her. Once he was standing in front of her, his eyes widened and he couldn't help but to stare at her in awe.

Her face looked like it had been crafted by the angels themselves; her nose was gently sloped to compliment her softly curved cheeks and her lips were plump with a rounded cupid's bow at the top. Her hair was the most entrancing shade of rich bronze, falling in soft waves and ringlets around her face. Aro looked into her eyes and found himself become utterly entranced by them, he could see the kindness that was dancing in the glittering pools of blue and green. As he stood there, with his mouth parted in astonishment and awe, there was no doubt within his heart – this beautiful, angelic human was his soulmate.

A small, delicate cough snapped Aro back to earth and he realised that he had just spent what must have been minutes, gaping at his gorgeous mate. Oh, gods, what must she think of him, he worried. He hadn't even introduced himself to her yet.

"Good evening, dolcezza," Aro began softly. "May you do me the great honour of telling me your name?"

"My name is Adalina, Adalina Silentas," she answered with a graceful smile. "It's nice to meet you."

Gods, even her voice entranced him. And her smile! Never before had he seen someone so achingly beautiful before in all of his years.

"My name is Aro," he suddenly blurted out, almost breathlessly.

"I know, this is your castle after all," she pointed out with a low chuckle and sparkling eyes.

"Yes, of course, how forgetful of me," Aro stumbled over his words. He wanted the marble floor to crack open and swallow him whole, he had never felt so embarrassed in his life. In a way, it was quite humbling that a human girl had reduced him to a bumbling mess with little more than a smile. He took a quick moment to gather his thoughts before speaking again.

"Let me try this again," he flashed a charming smile. "My name is Aro and it is an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Silentas."

* * *

Marina and Sebastian watched from the other side of the room as Aro turned up the charm on their daughter. The couldn't help but smile at his earlier blunders, they had never seen the vampire leader so flustered, especially over a woman. The fact that it was their daughter just made them smile even more.

From their side, Cristian hid a small grin. He was incredibly happy for his sister, even if she didn't know what had just happened, yet. There was no doubt, from seeing just how enraptured Aro was with Adalina, that she would be treated like to Queen that she is. Still, a small part of him couldn't help but worry about how this would affect her in the long run.

* * *

"What about you, my dear? Do you have any passions or interests?"

Adalina and Aro had spent the past hour talking, with the King relishing the opportunity to get to know his mate. They had started off with simple small talk, before venturing off into the many hobbies and interests that Aro had pursued during his immortal life.

"I actually just finished my studies at university a couple of weeks ago," she smiled gently. "So, this trip is also part of my parents' graduation gift to me."

"Ah, a scholar," Aro mused softly. "May I ask what you studied?"

"Human Rights and Humanitarian Law," Adalina answered hesitantly. It often came as quite the shock when she told people what she studied at school, her age and appearance were rather deceptive apparently. She was used to people thinking that her answer was a joke or embellishment.

However, Aro beamed with something akin to pride at her words. "Magnifico! So incredibly smart for someone of your age. I hear that law degrees are of exceptional difficulty in human schools."

"It wasn't too bad, it is just a lot of time and effort to put in," Adalina blushed modestly. "Thankfully, I managed to start my undergraduate degree when I was around sixteen, so it's been almost seven years now."

"My dear, this is something to be celebrated," the raven-haired king laughed. "You are much too modest of your achievements."

"That's what we always tell her, Aro, but she won't hear any word of it," her father laughed as he joined them. Adalina could see her mother socialising with some members of the Spanish coven across the room, and she flashed a quick smile after catching her eye.

Both Aro and her father were sharing some strange glances, seemingly conversing through their eyes. Adalina grew even more suspicious when her father suddenly shook the King's hand, keeping a firm grasp on it while speaking, "Congratulations, old friend. Marina and I wish you all of the happiness in the world."

"Thank you, Sebastian," Aro returned genuinely. "I will see to it that I live up to your expectations."

How strange, she mused, but Adalina was never one to pry so she merely glanced around the room and pretended to not have heard a single word. Perhaps her father would explain later once they were in private.

She could see Cristian hovering near the entrance of the room. His shoulders seemed tense, and his hands were clasped firmly together in front of his chest. She tried to catch his eye, but he was staring resolutely at the floor.

"My apologies, but I think it is about time that I leave," she cut in to her father and Aro's silent conversation with a polite smile.

Her father followed her gaze across the room and seemed to note Cristian's tense demeanor. "Ah, I see. Do you want your mother and I to come with you, querida?"

"No, no, it's fine," she reassured, placing a kiss on his cheek before turning to face Aro. "It was lovely to meet and speak with you, Aro. You were wonderful company."

He almost looked crestfallen at her departure, but quickly flashed her a brilliant smile. "It was my pleasure, dearest. Hopefully we shall see each other again soon, hm?"

Adalina blushed lightly at his eager expression and hopeful words. "Yes, I mean, that would be nice. To see you again, that is. Um, right, goodbye."

She quickly made her way over to Cristian, looking at Aro over her shoulder briefly, before signalling that they could leave now. As they walked out of the room, she couldn't resist glancing back one last time. Her father was chuckling fondly at her antics, but Aro was looking directly at her with dark, intense eyes. She threw a parting smile his way before allowing Cristian to guide her through the doors.

Back in the car, Adalina made sure to turn the air conditioning on full blast to try and cool the ferocious blush still burning her cheeks. Cristian glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but made no move to question her flustered state. Although, she thought that she could see a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Only the stars and the faint glow from Volterra lit the road back to the villa, as the night sky was completely pitch black. Unbidden, her thoughts trailed back to a certain King with hair as dark as night. He was certainly a handsome man, she thought abashedly. There was a roguish charm about Aro; perhaps from the smirks that tugged his soft lips, the dark sophistication of his tailored suit, or maybe the mischievous glint that sparked within his red eyes. Whatever it was, Adalina was captivated by him.

Meeting Aro, and speaking to him, had completely changed the direction the night had been taking. She had no longer felt annoyed by the constant stares, or the disparaging whispers – she didn't even notice them. All that she could think about was _him_ ; his charm and intellect, the interest he showed in her, and, most of all, the way he spoke to her as an equal. For the first time, she felt like more than a human.

When looking into his eyes, she had felt this strange, indescribable feeling. An inexplicable sense that she was about to embark upon a great adventure.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! And thank you to 'Anon', and zigra1825 for your reviews! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, especially Aro and Adalina's first meeting. Please feel free to leave a review telling me your thoughts!**


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